rss
BMJ Case Reports 2009; doi:10.1136/bcr.08.2008.0758
  • Findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect

Post-mortem evidence of idiopathic left ventricular hypertrophy and idiopathic interstitial myocardial fibrosis: is exercise the cause?

  1. Gregory Whyte1,2,
  2. Mary Sheppard3,
  3. Keith George4,
  4. Robert Shave5,
  5. Sanjay Prasad6,
  6. Rory O’Hanlon6,
  7. Sanjay Sharma6
  1. 1
    Liverpool John Moores University, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Science, Henry Cotton Campus, Truman Street, Liverpool, L3 2ET, UK
  2. 2
    CRY Centre for Sports Cardiology, Olympic Medical Institute, Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, HA1 3UJ, UK
  3. 3
    The Royal Brompton Hospital, Sydney Street, London, SW3 6NP, UK
  4. 4
    Liverpool John Moores UNiversity, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Science, Henry Cotton Campus, Liverpool, L3 2ET, UK
  5. 5
    Brunel University, Uxbridge, London, UB1, UK
  6. 6
    Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 9RS, UK
  1. gregwhyte27{at}yahoo.co.uk
  • Published 2 February 2009

Summary

We report the case of an experienced, highly trained marathon runner who died suddenly while running. On post-mortem examination, left ventricle hypertrophy and idiopathic interstitial myocardial fibrosis was found. We believe that life-long, repetitive bouts of arduous physical activity resulted in fibrous replacement of the myocardium, causing a pathological substrate for the propagation of fatal arrhythmias.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: None.

This Article

  1. Summary
  2. Full text

Responses

  1. Submit a response
  2. No responses published

Register for free content

The full text of all Editor's Choice articles and summaries of every article are free without registration

The full text of Images in ... articles are free to registered users

Only fellows can access the full text of case reports (apart from Editor's Choice) - become a fellow today, or encourage your institution to, so that together we can grow and develop this resource

Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the case reports as they are published, and let us know what you think by commenting on the Editor's blog